Knight's End
by Tiberius
Summary: A follow-up to the series finale of Team Knight Rider, featuring KITT and Michael Long, joining the team as their nemesis Mobius is unmasked for a deadly desert showdown!
1. Part I

_The Legion of Doom, an unholy alliance between TKR's most lethal enemies was defeated, but at great cost. All five TKR vehicles, Dante, Attack Beast, Plato, KAT, and Domino were heavily damaged, and it __would__ take days __or even weeks __to repair them__ completely__._

_And i__n the process Mobius, the team's most dangerous adversary, and creator of the Legion of Doom, had succeeded in his master plan. He had broken into Sky__ O__ne, TKR's mobile HQ__,__ and stolen__ the matrix of__ KITT, the heroic artificial intelligence from the glory days of FLAG._

_KITT's final message sent the team to a mysterious island in the Florida Keys where they found a tombstone bearing the name Michael Knight, the long vanished __first FLAG __driver. And to further add to the chaos, an unknown figure appeared at the grave site, claiming to be Knight himself..._

**Team Knight Rider: ****Knight's End**

**Part ****I - The Vault**

_On an island in the Florida Keys..._

While the blinding tropical sunlight beamed down upon their backs, the squad of five TKR drivers stood over the supposed grave of the legendary Michael Knight in the blinding Florida sunlight, the expressions upon their faces a mixture of confused and morose.

"I can't believe it, he's dead." said Jenny Andrews, who had the most to lose or gain at the discovery, for she had long suspected that Michael Knight was her father.

All were silent, with the roar of the nearby surf the only noise, then after a moment Duke broke the quiet.

"Shadow leads us all the way out here to show us this?"

"What does it mean?" asked Erica, than all five looked up in amazement, as o enraptured at the grave marker had they been that none of them had noticed a tall figure had joined their mourning from the nearby jungle.

"Maybe I can tell you." the stranger announced to his enraptured audience, "I'm Michael Knight... Or at least I was..."

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

_Ten hours earlier..._

The motorized wheelchair departed from Sky One with no resistance. Mobius's mind controller prototype was working perfectly. The evil mastermind could control up to three people within a ten meter radius and that had allowed him to easily gain access to TKR's HQ and steal KITT's matrix.

Moments later he was aboard his own private jet and handing the sphere containing KITT's essence over to his bodyguard Roland Laschewsky.

"Hook it into my computer, quickly! Kyle will soon be here. I know he'll figure out my diversion."

He signaled the cockpit and the jet took off under the skilled hand of the beautiful blonde Liz "Starr" Starrowitz, Mobius's lover and partner in crime. Once airborne and on autopilot, Starr left the controls and headed back to the cabin. She embraced Mobius warmly and watched his gnarled hands move across his chair's computer keyboard.

"What are you doing now, lover?" she asked, her eyes straying to the large metal sphere hooked by coaxial cable to the jet's onboard computer, "Is that him?"

"Your moronic question is answered by the metal plate on the matrix, Starr." Mobius criticized.

Starr read the plate.

"KITT? So this is the brain of one of TKR's talking cars. So what?" she was already getting bored.

"Not just any brain, you fool, _the_ brain. The first of their heroic machines. And the most brilliant. He holds the key to world domination. And without his connection to Sky One he is helpless. There! I have it!"

Mobius typed a final sequence on his key board and a map of the USA appeared on his computer screen. A single red dot blinked in the desert of Arizona.

"That's it!" he said ecstatic, "That's the location of the FLAG Vault. Victory is at hand. Starr, alter the jet's course for Arizona." he ordered and she ran back to the cockpit.

Mobius reached out with a withered, shaky hand and tapped KITT's matrix. "See that, Roland? Soon the entire population of this planet will be under my absolute control. And Kyle and his idiotic TKR members have no idea at all what my plan truly is!"

The black and silver mini-jet hurtled toward it's mysterious destination...

_******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**_

_Elsewhere..._

The three bizarre figures made their slow way across the blistering terrain of the Arizona desert. They had left behind the mini-jet a half hour before and now it was just a silver speck to Roland, as he glanced back the way they had come across the sandy tarmac.

Roland had put on a white muscle shirt, at Mobius's advice, and also sported a pair of black Oakley sun glasses to protect his eyes from the harsh sunlight. He carried a riot shotgun slung over his shoulder and had a Glock-17 pistol in a hip holster. Mobius had decided that was all the protection they would need.

In front of him stumbled Starr, clad in tight cut-off jeans and a green T-shirt. She carried KITT's matrix in her arms and it's weight was taking it's toll.

"Are we...we almost there y-yet, Mobius?" she gasped, "This damn thing weighs a ton! And the sun is ruining m-my highlights!"

"Be quiet, my dear." replied Mobius in the lead, his electric wheelchair making good time, for him anyway, thanks to the all-terrain tires he had Roland install on their way here. "We are nearly within sight of it."

Two minutes later he ground to a halt, seemingly at random.

"This is it?" asked Starr, bringing the matrix forward as their leader had instructed. She hooked it into the chair's I/O port and Mobius entered a code into the computer. A high pitched whine began to emanate from the matrix sphere.

"Sounds like a modem." said Starr, fanning herself with her ball cap.

"Precisely, my dear. It is a modem, and-" but he was cutoff by a voice from his chair's speaker phone.

"Don't do this, Mobius." came the voice.

Mobius smiled in recognition of KITT's original voice, not the one he had created to hide his identity from both Mobius and the TKR team.

"Even you can't be this twisted." snapped the AI.

"Ah, KITT, I had forgotten you could tap into my chair's phone and use it as a voice modulator. Too bad that's all you can do." and Mobius chuckled wryly, the arrogance of his tone self-evident.

There was a sudden mechanical grating noise, than the sand they were standing on began to vibrate violently. Then they began to sink into the ground. Roland and Starr looked around in amazement as the sand drained away to reveal them standing on a black metal surface, thirty meters by fifteen meters, and it was moving rapidly downwards.

"It's an elevator!" said Starr, "Will it take us to this Vault of yours?"

"Yes, my dear." said Mobius as they continued their trip down.

Down-and-down they went, until one hundred meters below the surface the lift stopped and the three of them moved off of the platform. It reversed and headed back up, leaving them in total darkness. Starr and Roland heard Mobius type another sequence into his computer and the modem hummed once again.

Lights sprang to life high above them and Starr looked upwards blinking at the high black metal ceiling four stories above. Then she looked back down and gasped in amazement. They stood in a vast chamber, hexagonal in shape, the walls grey concrete inlaid with support beams of that same glossy black metal. Along the left wall was a long row of silver garage door's, each two stories high. To the left was a massive command center, with enough consoles for easily fifty personnel. A massive display screen was attached to the wall above the control area and on it was displayed the FLAG knight piece logo.

"Holy cow!" exclaimed Roland, the first thing he had said in hours.

Mobius was already rolling into the command center and up to the console closest to the screen. Activating a final code, he unlocked the control's computer and brought the command centre online. All the consoles began to hum and glow and the giant screen came fully alive, displaying a Utilities menu.

Starr read the listings, than uttered one in surprise, "FLAG Fusion Satellite System? But isn't that-"

"Yes," Mobius cut her off, "it's exactly what I need to activate my mind controller on a global scale. This facility controls it and uses it to transmit all FLAG communications across the Earth. I will be able to take full command of all the five billion humans who reside on this miserable rock."

"You're completely insane Mobius." came KITT's voice from the chair beside him, "It will never work."

"Oh, but it will, my brilliant toaster!" snarled the maniacal genius, "And I'll leave you hooked into my chair's speaker, so you can witness my greatest achievement!"

"Hee-hee!" giggled Starr, "We're gonna conquer the world!"

"How long will it take you to assemble my equipment and tie it into the console?" Mobius demanded of her as she began to unpack the machinery from the field pack strapped to the back of his chair.

"No more than three hours with you directing me, lover." she replied.

"Excellent! Roland, get me out of this chair and into the command seat of the main console. We all have work to do!" and he waited as Roland began to undue his straps.

Unbeknownst to any of them, a green light clicked on the armrest of the wheelchair, as KITT activated the chair's own modem. He prayed it would reach Sky One.

**To be continued...**


	2. Part II

**Part**** II - Revelations**

_Flying across the heavens..._

In the conference room aboard Sky One, Erica and Jenny sat alone at the command console, deep in conversation.

They had been here for the last hour, ever since the TKR team had re-boarded with their mysterious passenger, and the jet had taken off again, leaving the Florida Keys far behind it.

"But he doesn't look anything like the pictures I've seen of Michael Knight." Erica was saying.

"I know..." replied Jenny in a quiet monotone.

"And I heard him speak in a training video when I first joined TKR and this guy's voice is completely different." her blonde friend added.

"I know..." replied Jenny again.

"And he seems way taller, much too tall to be Michael." continued Erica.

"I know..." said Jenny, yet again.

"And he's much cuter than Michael Knight, which I thought was impossible." said Erica.

"I know--what!?" Jenny glared at her teammate.

"Just making sure your paying attention, Jenny. You seem to be in another country, what with that vacant look on your face." Erica peered into Jenny's eyes with concern. _She's still in shock, thought Erica__..__._

Jenny said nothing and Erica did the hardest thing she could do, she shut-up. The two sat in morbid silence for the next ten minutes and then the door finally slid open and Duke strode in and sat down.

"How are the vehicles?" asked Erica with concern. Mobuis's legion had done a number on them, and they were in pretty bad shape.

"Trek and the mechanics are working as fast as they can. It's a good thing Dante ordered all those extra parts on his own." Duke said in his deep alto voice, "Kyle won't be angry at him now, Trek thinks Dante has saved them from days of repair time."

"Great!" said Erica, then turned to cheer up Jenny, "Hear that, Jenny? Domino should be up and running soon!"

But Jenny ignored her, continuing to stare off into the ceiling, completely absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Yo, Jenny! Anyone home!" taunted Erica, snapping her fingers before the brunette's unfocused eyes.

"Lay off her, Erica." growled Duke, "How would you feel if you found your long-lost father's grave, and then a complete stranger appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be him?"

"Well, if my father was _that_ cute-" Erica started to say, but she was interrupted by Kyle and Kevin "Trek" Sanders's arrival.

The two men sat down in their respective chairs and Duke and Jenny both began to quiz Trek on the state of their vehicles. He told them he had done all that he could, now it was in the hands of Sky One's mechanics, and the car's own repair systems. Jenny and Duke fell silent and slumped back into their chairs.

"So Kyle, was Mobius on board?" asked Trek, eager for a change of conversation.

"That's affirmative." Kyle informed them, grimly, "Security cameras recorded him boarding, and he used his localized mind control device to keep our staff out of the way."

"The camera's?" said Duke in excitement, "So you got him on camera! Do you know who he is, finally?"

"Nope. First thing he did was turn off the security system. So we know he came aboard, but that's it." replied Kyle.

"But what did he do?" asked Erica.

"Unknown. Everything's in working order, and nothings missing." aid Kyle, in exasperation, "Doesn't make any sense."

"Oh, it makes complete sense to me." said a deep, strong voice from the door to the conference room.

The mystery man, who claimed to be the long-lost Michael Knight, stood in the doorway. He was tall and muscular, with curly dark hair that was starting to gray at the temples. He had a strong nose, square chin and steel-grey eyes with lines starting to form around them. He looked nothing like the pictures of Michael Knight the TKR team had seen.

He came in and sat down in the last chair, and placed his right hand on the touch-pad of the computer console. "Computer, identify handprint, and scan retinal pattern."

A green bar of light ran under the glass panel his palm rested on while a red laser beam shot out of the console and into his left eye. There was a pause, than the computer's voice modulator spoke "_Hand-print and retinal scan identify you as Detective Michael Long, New York Police Department._"

"See, he's not Michael Knight!" roared Duke, jumping to his feet.

"Duke...Michael Knight's real name _is _Michael Long." said Kyle and Duke slowly sat down, still glaring at Michael, not completely believing it yet, "He was a police officer in LA, until somebody tried to kill him. They left him in the desert to die."

"And he was found by FLAG, and they saved his life, but his facial damage was so great, they had to rebuild from scratch, and Wilton Knight, creator of FLAG, had him recreated in his own image, talk about vanity." jumped in Trek, talking a mile-a-minute, "Wow, Wilton was even more egocentric than you, Erica."

"Oh, ha, ha, dork!" she shot back.

"Enough!" said Kyle, "I heard you had lost part of your memory, as well."

"That's true." said Long, "During my days at FLAG I didn't even know it was missing, really. I only recently, in the last six months or so, started to regain it, in therapy. But only bits and pieces...Jenny."

At this, Jenny's head shot up to fix him with a shocked stare. But he quieted her with a look, signaling they would talk later. She resigned herself to wait. But not too much longer.

"So you know what Mobius did when he was here?" asked Duke, trying to get everyone off the other tangent.

"He stole KITT." replied Long, the wrath in his voice a scary thing.

"KITT? Your talking corvette?" said Kyle in amazement.

"Trans-Am." corrected Duke, "KITT was here? Where?"

In reply Michael activated his terminal again and requested Class 7 clearance. Kyle and Jenny looked at each other, because they thought clearance only went to 6, and even Kyle had only 5. Michael entered a code and the round top of the conference console slid open.

"You could hide a basketball in there." said Erica.

"Or an AI matrix!" exclaimed Trek, "KITT was here the whole time, watching us, eaves dropping on our meetings! There's I/O ports in there, so he was connected into the entire Sky One system, so he could monitor us even in the field, right?"

"Why?" demanded Kyle, "Why wasn't I told this?"

"It was Devon's idea, it was supposed to be only temporary, just for the first year. KITT would supervise and take notes." said Michael, "But he would never interfere, not get involved."

Nobody spoke for awhile, they all just sat there taking in the revelations of the conference. Then Jenny spoke for the first time.

"But he did, didn't he?" she asked, "Interfere, I mean."

"Sure could have used his help when Max Amendes commandeered Sky One." said Kyle.

"KITT is Shadow, isn't he.?" asked Jenny, and Michael nodded the affirmative.

"Of course!" said Kyle, "It makes sense! He used the internet to move around, Sky One has a direct feed. But how did Mobius know he was here, and why take him?"

"That I don't know." replied Long in exasperation, "KITT called me only hours ago to ask for my help, but his message was short. He said he was going to be taken, and that I should meet you guys at my 'grave'."

"What now?" asked Erica. No one said anything. Mobius had been too careful, there was no clue to what he had planned.

The intercom bleeped. It was Dante, informing Kyle he had a phone call, and he said he would take it on the speaker. There was a pause as Dante transferred the line, then the speaker phone erupted with an electronic scream, causing everyone to jump.

"What the hell?!" said Duke.

"That's a modem feed!" said Trek and he patched the call into the conference computer. Text began to appear on the screen :

THIS IS KITT, CAN'T TALK LONG, MOBIUS WILL NOTICE ANY SECOND. WE ARE IN THE FLAG VAULT, AND MOBIUS HAS TAPPED INTO THE F.F.S.S. CAN'T TALK ANY LONGER, GOOD LUCK. ONE TEAM CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

And with that last vote of confidence, the connection ended.

"KITT's incredible." remarked Trek and Michael grinned, "What FLAG vault? And what's the F.F.S.S.? Wait a sec, F.F.S.S.? The Flag Fusion Satellite System? But that was only a concept of Bonnie Barstowe's. Wasn't it?

"The Vault is a FLAG storage facility in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon." supplied Michael.

"Fusion satellites?" asked Erica.

"Theoretically, a series of fusion-powered satellites in orbit of the planet could broadcast a frequency directly into the atmosphere." When no one seemed to understand, Trek broke it down, "You could talk to the entire planet's population, everybody would hear you."

"Could Mobius use that system to broadcast his mind controller globally?" asked Duke.

"Possibly..." replied Trek.

Everyone jumped to their feet and began running out the door. Kyle hit the intercom and ordered the pilot to change course for Arizona, maximum flight speed...

**To be continued...**


	3. Part III

**Chapter III - Showdown**

_Far beneath the Arizona desert, inside the FLAG Vault..._

"Ready Mobius." signaled Starr from her post at the Satellite console.

"Activate satellite/mind controller uplink." ordered Mobius, and Starr began the sequence. On the screen a diagram of 10 satellites surrounding the Earth glowed gold and he activated his controls. Hundreds of different images from around the globe appeared.

"Now for a test." he zoomed in on an image at random, a pair of mountain climbers ascending the side of a cliff in the California Rockies. He pressed a button, and the two froze in mid-climb. He spoke into a microphone, "Fly for me, slaves."

And to the amazement of Starr, the two unlucky men let go of the stone wall and plunged to their deaths.

"YES!" shouted Mobius, raising his twisted arms in triumph, he then turned to KITT's matrix in his wheelchair, "I am victorious, machine! I have won!"

"Don't be so quick to declare victory, Mobius." replied KITT and a piercing siren erupted in the Vault.

Mobius turned back to his console and pressed a button, and a view from the desert outside the FLAG Vault appeared. Cutting across the terrain, kicking up a sandstorm all their own, came four vehicles Mobius recognized instantly.

"TKR?! How did they--_you_!" he roared at KITT.

"Who, me?" asked KITT innocently.

"The phone, you called them!" screamed Mobius as Starr stepped up next to the chair, "But no matter, they're too late!"

"TKR is never too late, you idiot!" shot back KITT, but Starr ripped his matrix from the chair, pulling it's cable link to the phone out with it, and hurled them out of the command area. The matrix bounced across the floor and crashed into the wall with a sickening cracking noise.

"So much for the Two Thousand model." declared Mobius and he turned back to his console and activated his intercom, "Roland, how comes your preparations? I was right, TKR has found us."

"_Uh, almost ready, sir._" came his bodyguard's reply from the speaker.

Starr glanced back at the wall of giant garage doors. Two were open and Roland had been in there for the last three hours following Mobuis's instructions. She turned back to her lover, "Can't you just take control of TKR's minds with the satellites?"

"To keep the mind controller from affecting us, I had to blind it from this area." he replied, his fingers tapping at his keyboard as fast as he could, "So I can't affect anyone within a eight kilometer square radius. But the Vault has it's own defenses, that'll keep them busy until Roland is ready. Then it will truly be the end of TKR!"

*** * * * ***

They came, like the four Horseman of the Apocalypse, tearing across the Arizona desert, the four vehicles of Team Knight Rider. Side-by-side, they burned across the landscape at nearly a hundred and thirty kilometers an hour. In Dante, the silver 4X4, Kyle Stewart, leader of TKR, activated his comlink.

"OK guys, were picking up a big sandstorm coming up on us from the east. Should be on us in about five minutes, so keep frosty. Now, all team members report status." he demanded in his commanding voice. Beside him, in the fused together motorcycles, Kevin "Trek" Sanders, mechanic and scientific genius, answered first.

"Plato and me are ready and willing, Kyle! That storm might give us some cover."

"Hi-ho, silver, Kimosabe!" quipped Plato, his red-and-silver street bike.

"Let's get that freak, KAT!" said Erica West, ex-professional thief, "Ready Kyle."

"I'm with you, honey!" said KAT, her sleek, yellow racing bike.

In the huge black pickup, Duke DePalma, ex-cop and surveillance expert, checked in, "The two of us are running on all cylinders, Kyle!"

"I've got the Vault on my scanners, Kyle, and I can almost taste Mobius under my tires!" growled Attack Beast.

"Easy, Beast, you'll get your chance." said Kyle, "How about you and Domino, Jenny?"

In her sleek red Mustang with the white racing stripes, Jenny Andrews, ex-marine, glanced at her passenger Michael Long. Neither had had the courage to say anything, in the ten minutes since they had left Sky One beside Mobuis's mini-jet. Sky One had then returned to the blue heavens above, awaiting further instructions.

"You can count on Jenny and me, Kyle." jumped in Domino.

"All right team, get ready, we're almost there." Kyle clicked off the link.

"Thanks Domino, I'm just a little, um, outa-sorts." said Jenny, patting her dash.

"Anytime, girlfriend." replied her car, "And who's this handsome guy on my passenger side?"

"Domino, this is Michael Long, my... uh, my..." Jenny stammered.

"I'm her father, Domino. Nice to meet you." said Michael, and he smiled at Jenny, "I'm sorry, but I didn't know until very recently."

Jenny smiled back, tears in her eyes, "That's okay. I'm just happy I finally found you. When I saw that tombstone..."

"You don't need to say anything." said Michael, putting his hand over hers on the stick-shift, "That marker was-"

But he was interrupted by a _massive_ explosion! The two whipped their heads around in time to see the merged KAT and Plato lifted off the ground by a fiery blast. They reached nearly six feet then slammed back down HARD, landing just inches from the racing black shape of Attack Beast.

"Land mines!" reported Duke over the comlink, "Beast just picked them up on his scanners."

"Great timing!" Erica exclaimed.

"Almost got us!" gasped Trek.

"Glad to hear you two are still with us." said Kyle, "Send everyone the location of the mines, Beast."

"Already done." replied Beast, impressed with himself, but he was interrupted by an explosion directly in front of his grill.

All watched in apprehension at the cloud of orange fire and black smoke, then Attack Beast shot out of it, only scorched. "That was close, Duke!" said Beast, "I didn't set that mine off, Mobius must be setting them off himself! He's playing Battleship, and we're the frigates! Better tell the others."

"I don't think I have to..." replied Duke as the sand all around the four vehicles erupted into a rapid-fire series of orange-red detonations.

Over the comlink Kyle shouted for everyone to make evasive maneuvers and the group twisted and slid back-and-forth across the desert, the mines going off all around them. It was close, but a minute later they were through the field and back on course for the Vault.

"Whew! Let's not do that again." exhaled Kyle in relief, then he contacted Domino, "Jenny, you and Michael break from formation and circle around behind the Vault, to that backdoor Michael said he knows about."

The red-and-white convertible broke away and headed to the left, while up ahead Trek made out a line of grey shapes rising out of the sand. He had Plato zoom in on them and then clicked on the comlink.

"Kyle, a row of gattling-guns just appeared at twelve o'clock!" he delcared in warning, but too late, the guns opened fire, peppering the three vehicles with high bore slugs!

Dante's windshield cracked and then shattered. Attack Beast's grill was blasted off, his headlights blew in. The linked cycles swerved to avoid the blast, but to no avail, as they were hit along KAT's side, puncturing the canopy, which caused the cycles to whip out of control and crash prow-first into a sand dune.

"Crap!" shouted Kyle, "Those weapons are designed to cut right through our defenses! Dante and Attack Beast, target them and fire all missiles!"

The two trucks complied and launched their heat seekers, and then they went into desperate maneuvers to avoid the gunfire. The rockets roared forward, struck, and the guns disappeared in a crimson fire ball. A second later the two TKR trucks tore through the blasted area and saw the guns were smashed to junk now.

"Excellent, you guys!" said Duke.

"At your service." came the reply from Dante.

"I could have taken them out all by myself." scowled Beast, "But nice going, Dante."

The fused cycles arrived between the two trucks as they tore across the desert tarmac, ever closer to the Vault. Kyle asked if they were OK.

"Were, um... fine." said Erica, her voice pained.

"Erica took a round in the leg." said KAT, "I'm monitoring her vitals, she's okay for now."

"Erica, you had better break off." said Kyle, his tone laced with concern.

"I'm okay, no way am I giving up now." frowned Erica with determination, "You guys may need me."

"All right, but the moment she starts to get worse, you get her out of here, KAT. That's an order." gave in Kyle, knowing that with the stakes so hig, they couldn't afford to lose anyone.

Inside Attack Beast a monitor clicked on and an alarm sounded. "What's up, Beast?" demanded Duke.

"My sensors have detected the Vault's elevator a kilometer in front of us." said Beast, "And it's moving. Something's coming out of the complex."

They were close enough that the group could see the object as it emerged. The elevator stopped and the TKR team stared in shock.

"What the heck is that?!" exclaimed Trek and he brought the twinned cycles to a halt. Beast and Dante pulled to a stop on either side, and the entire team regarded the new arrival.

"I have a very bad feeling about this." said Duke.

*** * * * ***

_Ten minutes earlier__..._

Jenny Andrews hit the brakes and her car Domino slid to a stop in front of a low sand dune. She and Michael Long jumped out, and he pulled a computer pad from the pocket of his black leather jacket. He panned it around, searching.

"Domino, you better head back and see if Kyle and the rest need you, okay?" ordered Jenny and Domino wished them luck, then was gone.

"You sure your there's a back door to this place?" asked the leggy brunette, taking off her sunglasses, "You said it's been like fifteen years since you toured the Vault."

"Twelve years, and yes, there's a door here." Michael stopped moving, focusing on a low dune, "Here we go."

He began to dig with his hands and moments later he had exposed the top of a tower made of shiny black metal. He chuckled.

"Why black?" asked Jenny as Michael slid a panel open on the top and exposed a keypad.

"I never thought I would see that alloy again. Just like KITT's, paint would never stick to it."

He entered a numeric series into the pad. It beeped, and disappeared into the sand.

"Like your car's shell? What made it indestructible?" asked Jenny, then she noticed the ground beneath her begin to vibrate, "Ours don't have that advantage, no driving through cement walls, and the like."

"I suggested that." Michael informed her as the sand in front of him drained away to reveal a set of cement steps disappearing into the ground, "Too much power under one hood. Too dangerous."

"KITT was never a risk." said Jenny, following Michael down the stairs. The panel slid back into place behind them. Light panels in the wall kept them from being concealed in complete darkness.

"No, not KITT, but we faced others who had the alloy."

"You mean KARR." supplied Jenny and Michael paused on the stairs.

"You been checking up on me?" he asked in mock annoyance, which Jenny ignored.

"Surprised?" she frowned thoughtfully, "You shouldn't be, considering our personal connection. And by the way, how come when I searched for you under the name 'Long' nothing appeared?" they had reached the bottom of the shielded steps now and Michael was typing his personal code into the keypad by the door.

"You did all your searches with the FLAG computers, right? Best in the world." Long said and Jenny nodded at this, "KITT was monitoring you, and carefully kept you from finding me." He glared at the keypad, it wasn't accepting his code.

"He what?!" exclaimed Jenny in surprise, and pulled a laser cutter from her pocket, "Here let me."

She cut open the pad's casing with the ruby beam than pulled the panel off the wall, exposing a mass of wires. "Why did KITT do that?"

"I asked him, just in case anyone at FLAG decided to try and dig me up for any missions, or hand-holding." he replied as he admired her handiwork, "Clever of you to bring that."

"Trek said I should, said Mobius might have locked out the Vault's systems." she finished her rewiring and replaced the panel, "Try it now."

Michael re-entered his code and the door slid obediently open. Jenny started to say something, but Michael put a finger to his lips. The two of them slipped through the door and entered the Vault. A long corridor sloped down into the distance, and they jogged down it until they reached more stairs which took five minutes to descend. After that they were finally on the bottom level of the Vault and passing garage door after garage door, which lined the wall to their left.

"What's behind those?" asked Jenny, her eyes tracing the mysterious doors.

"Stuff FLAG wanted to forget. Mistakes and technology too dangerous to destroy." Long told her as they rounded a corner, "At least in their own opinion. Myself, I think most of it should have been completely erased from existence. Some things mortal man just isn't ready for, the chance for misuse is just too high. Like the indestructible shell alloy."

Up ahead the two of them could see a bright light and they slowed to a walk, creeping up on the command area. They stopped and carefully peered around a cement pylon into the huge mass of columns. There in front of a large wall screen sat a hunched form, tapping at keys. Beside him sat a motorized wheelchair.

"That's your Mobuis's means of transport, I see." said Michael in a whisper.

"Yes. How did you know he was in a wheel chair?" asked Jenny, her voice low but surprised, "We never had time to tell you anything about him."

"Oh, I was pretty sure who he was, ever since you TKR's told me what he had done." said Michael.

"Who is he?" demanded Jenny.

"He is-" began Michael, but he was interrupted by a clicking noise from directly behind him. They slowly turned to see Starr standing there, brandishing a large automatic pistol.

"Hello, Jenny." sneered Starrowitz, "Who's your pal? Never mind that, just step into the command area."

She lead them in and they marched up to stand a meter behind Mobius's chair.

"Caught'em lover." said the devious blonde.

"Of course you did, my dear, they entered just where I predicted." chuckled Mobius, without turning around, "Ah, Jenny, I expected you, but with Kyle, not this stranger. Who might he be?"

"What, you don't recognize me?" grinned Michael, the superiority dripping from his voice, "I thought you were smarter than that... Garthe."

"Garthe?!" said Jenny in amazement, "Garthe Knight, Wilton Knight's son? But--But you're dead, killed in a horrible...truck...accident......oh..."

The chair rotated 180 degrees, revealing Mobius, a shadow of his former self, thin and twisted, his limbs nearly bones. He still retained his trade-mark black goatee, and his face matched the pictures Jenny had seen of a younger Wilton, or Michael Knight. Twin respirator hoses disappeared into a transparent breathing mask strapped to his face.

"Michael, you're still alive, how dare you disappoint me." said Garthe, his lips unmoving, his voice electronically produced by a vox speaker that was hooked on the pocket of his polo shirt, "See what you and your demon car did to me after our last encounter? Well, now I have the last laugh, I control the mind of everyone in the world. What shall I do first? Maybe have the President nuke New York?"

He laughed deeply and turned back to the console.

"You won't control the world for much longer, Garthe," growled Jenny, "with the rest of my team breathing down your neck."

"Oh, I think TKR's days of breathing will soon be at an end. I dispatched my bodyguard Roland with a little surprise FLAG was keeping stored here in the Vault." Garthe hit a switch, giving a sky-view of the sand above them.

The four TKR vehicles were idling half a kilometer from the Vault. Facing them atop the complex's lift platform was a vehicle Michael had hoped, no prayed, never to lay eyes on again. He gasped involuntarily.

"Goliath!" he said in shock.

"What's Goliath?" asked Jenny.

Mobius answered for Michael "Why,my dear Jenny, Goliath is my creation, my child, and he is..." he paused to zoom in on the massive juggernaut, "..._DEATH_ to TKR, and everything my father ever built!"

His laughter echoed through the tomb that was the Vault.

**To be continued...**


	4. Part IV

**Chapter IV - Black Death**

_On the blighted terrain of the Arizona desert..._

"Kyle, Beast has repeatedly scanned that Mack truck, and he says that he can't penetrate it's shell." said Duke over the comlink, "It's weird."

The huge black and grey Mack truck sat motionless atop the lift platform. Sunlight glinted off it's tinted wind shield, and the first wisps of the impending sandstorm that surrounded Goliath gave it the appearance of a demon just released from the chains of Hell.

The three TKR vehicles sat in a line facing this new development, less than a kilometer away, engines purring. Kyle new they all were waiting for him to say something, give some sort of a order, both the human and AI's under his command. He needed to make a decision, now.

"Dante, any word from Jenny?" asked Kyle.

"None so far." replied his transport in it's high-society tones, "Do you want me to contact her?"

"No... She'll call when she needs too." He paused, then made up his mind, "All right team, let's go. The world is hanging in the balance while we sit here."

As one they shot forward across the desert tarmac, kicking up their own private dust storm, one that seemed to rival the on-coming turbulence. The mysterious black Mack remained still, directly in front of them.

They were less than half a kilometer away when it came alive and rolled forward. Quickly it accelerated to maximum speed, barreling toward them, on a collision course.

"Dante, activate the external speaker." ordered Kyle, and when he spoke next, his voice echoed across the desert, "_Attention oncoming vehicle, I'm Kyle Stewart, commander of this FLAG team, and I order you to halt your truck._"

There was no reaction, the Mack continued on it's course. "Oh, well." said Kyle, "Dante, fire a missile into his grill."

The missile rocketed out of Dante's launcher and shot toward the tractor trailer. It hit directly below the windshield, dead center of the grill, and the cab was engulfed in a crimson fire ball.

"Yeah!" shouted Trek, "You got'im Kyle!"

"Direct hit on his engines, Captain!" jumped in Plato, Trek's cycle, in a perfect imitation of Lt. Sulu.

Then the rig emerged from the blast cloud, not slowed down a notch.

"We didn't even scratch it!" said Duke in astonishment.

"Duke, swerve!" shouted Kyle, but too late.

Attack Beast was in the lead and had expected to find a totaled Mack when the smoke of the missile cleared. Duke tried to throw his truck to the left, but the Mack impacted with the back of Beast. The impact sent the pickup into a spin and it wiped out into a dune, a huge gash down it's right side and a ruptured tire the result.

The other two vehicles had more time to react and they altered their courses just in time, Dante to the right, the fused KAT and Plato the left. They shot past the Mack and began U-turns back toward it. Wide U-turns.

"Duke, are you okay?" came Erica's concerned voice over the comlink.

Duke opened his driver-side window and let the smoke from crossed circuits escape. He felt dazed and touching fingertips to his forehead he found he was bleeding from a bad gash. He had smashed his head into the steering wheel when the Mack had impacted.

"Duke, you there, buddy?" asked Trek.

"Yeah... still with you, though I don't know about Beast." replied DePalma, his voice shaky, "You there Beast?"

There was a pause, than the truck's speaker came on, filled with static. "What the heck is that... thing...made of?" demanded Beast.

"All right!" said Duke, "Can you still roll?" His answer was a hissas the tire inflators came on-line and filled Beast's ruptured back wheel. Beast backed up, turned, and rolled forward, heading back in the direction of the black rig.

The Mack didn't even slow down as it hanged left and headed back to the TKR team. In Dante, Kyle asked the rest of his group for any ideas. None were forthcoming, as Dante's missles were the strongest weapon they had.

"Kyle, Plato has identified the truck." reported Trek, "It's called Goliath, it was built by an enemy of FLAG twelve years ago, specifically designed to be unstoppable by the Knight Two Thousand, KITT. It's made of the same nearly indestructible material KITT was composed of."

Silence filled the comlink, as they all digested Trek's news. Kyle glanced at his proximity radar and saw that Goliath would be in range in less than forty-five seconds.

"Okay, here's the plan. We herd Goliath toward the Grand Canyon, it's only ten minutes away. Maybe we can trick him into going over." said Kyle in desperation.

"Kyle, my sensors detect movement atop the Mack truck's trailer." Dante informed them over the link. On Dante's dash a screen lit up with a top view of Goliath, and as they watched in apprehension an opening appeared and a silver cannon-like device rose out of the trailer's innards. Energy conduits began to pulse along it's length.

"Everyone, evasive actions!" shouted Kyle, as the cannon swiveled and fired a bright blue beam in his direction. A crater eight meters across and three deep was blown into the ground directly in front of Dante and the truck crashed forward into it...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"YES! The particle cannon still works!" said Garthe, as the group in the Vault's control chamber watched Goliath fire upon Dante.

"Particle Cannon?" asked Michael, curious despite his and Jenny's predicament.

"Yes, my dear double" grinned the mastermind also known as Mobius, "a Class-G particle separator cannon, also developed by the beautiful Bonnie Barstowe, formally of FLAG." and Garthe swiveled his twisted body around to face his captives.

"Bonnie?" said Michael in surprise, "Bonnie wouldn't develop a weapon like that."

"Oh, but she did, for the express purpose of using it to stop a target of KITT's caliber. Like Goliath, or KARR. Devon Miles ordered her to." he swiveled back to face the screen, "It was designed to stop a weapon like KITT, so it will _vaporize_ the much weaker TKR!"

Jenny slowly moved her left hand to her comlink watch, taking advantage of everyone's attention being on the events unfolding on the screen. She carefully began to tap in a sequence that Trek had told her about. It might be their only hope.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Kyle emerged from Dante and moved in front of the silver truck. He frowned at the fused and twisted grill. That blast had come close to hitting them head-on. The wind howled, and the sandstorm had nearly surrounded the halted 4X4, cutting down on visibility severely.

"Dante, where's Goliath?" asked Kyle, digging his heels in and bracing his hands against Dante's hood. He pushed with all his might, but couldn't free his ride.

"Sensors and comlinks are both off-line. I can't see anything in this storm Kyle. We need to get out of this crater and-_Kyle_! Behind you!" Kyle whipped around at Dante's warning in time to see Goliath emerge from the shroud of the storm.

He threw himself to the left, barely somersaulting out of the way as the mammoth rig hit Dante at high speed! The impact sent the silver truck flying backwards and it flipped end-over-end, coming down on it's passenger side in a huge crashing noise. A moment later Goliath slammed into Dante's cab and sent the 4X4 rolling again, this time hard to the left.

Kyle picked himself up unsteadily in time to see the black rig begin an arc toward Dante to strike him yet again. He quickly raised his comlink and contacted the truck.

"Dante! Can you fire your missles?" he called, the fear in his voice causing it to shake.

"K-Kyle...all systems are off...offline." came Dante's fractured vox from over the link, "Estimate th-that another impact will... des-destroy me."

"Dante! No!" Kyle began to run toward his downed partner.

"Kyle, get...out of here...g-get to safety!" demanded Dante.

Goliath finished it's turn and bore down on Dante like the angel of death, "Kyle, m-my friend...it has been an honor t-to...work with you."

"NO!" screamed Kyle in horror of what was to come.

"Good-bye..." was the last thing Dante would ever say, for at that moment Goliath hit and the valiant 4X4 exploded. The rig roared through the debris and vanished back into the roaring sandstorm.

Kyle reached the point of impact a moment later but nothing was left of Dante. He stood there in shock, amidst the strewn pieces...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

The joined cycles, KAT and Plato, rounded a dune and came to a halt, lost in the sea of blowing sand.

"I've lost contact with the others." said Erica, "This isn't good."

"Quiet for a sec." said Trek, his fingers tapping rapidly at the mini-keyboard set into Plato's control bar, "There, I did it!"

"Did what?" asked Erica as a screen lit-up on her bike, showing a red and green swirling graphic.

"I'm using the cycle's seismic detection modifications I installed last month to detect and track vibrations in the ground. We should be able to locate everyone this way." He hit a key and the image focused, "The red is the storm, and the green is the vehicles."

"Okay, great. Which is which?" asked Erica, looking at the moving green blotches.

"That small one should be Beast, and the large one is Goliath. He's getting close, we'd better get moving." replied Trek, but Erica stopped him.

"Where's Kyle and Dante?" she asked.

"They should be on the screen, even if they are stopped." said Trek in confusion, "They can't be out of range. Where are they?"

Just then the storm cleared from around them, and directly ahead, Goliath appeared from the flying sand. Erica twisted the accelerator and they shot backwards, accelerating to full speed.

"Are you crazy? We're driving blind!" shouted Trek as they rocketed in reverse.

"It's the desert, what are we going to hit?" replied Erica, her attention on the oncoming behemoth.

"Ah, Erica honey, Goliath is closing." informed KAT.

"I can see that!" shot back the blonde, "Prepare to separate the bikes, Trek!"

"Okay!" he replied breathlessly as Goliath loomed ever closer.

Just as it was about to hit them there was a flash and the RV split apart to become two cycles. They both spun out of the way, the sleek yellow KAT spinning around to come to a stop, Plato the silver bike doing a 180 degree turn, narrowly avoiding the wheels of the massive rig.

Goliath shot away from them, but the cannon swung around in their direction. Both bikes took off, forward this time, swerving to avoid the energy blasts that began to rain down all around them. They managed to keep this up for a little while, but then there luck ran out and Plato was hit on the back wheel.

The bike flipped and Sanders was catapulted forward and off, coming down hard on his left side. He felt his arm twist crazily, then snap. Trek cried out as he rolled to a stop on his back, just in time to see Plato go flying over him and crash down a few meters away. Trek began to get up, cradling his broken arm painfully, and Goliath roared past him, and straight over Plato.

Trek watched in shock as his cycle was ground to bits beneath the indestructible tires of the black tractor trailer. Then the rig was gone chasing after Erica and Trek saw that nothing remained of his beloved bike.

Tears formed in his eyes, though Trek couldn't tell if it was from the pain, or the blowing sand. He decided it was neither...

**To be continued...**


	5. Part V

**Chapter V - Fatal Moves**

_Arizona..._

Erica rode like a bat out of Hell upon her yellow street bike, tearing through the blinding wind at maximum speed, but to no avail. Goliath was right behind her, and a quick glance over her shoulder at the huge monster froze Erica's heart solid with fear. _This is it,_ she thought as her eyes darted over KAT's controls in search of something, _anything_ amongst the high tech gadgetry that might help.

"Yowch!" came KAT's fearful cry, as Goliath's bumper knocked against the back wheel of the cycle, "This is hopeless, Erica!"

"Can we cut to the right or left?" asked Erica desperately.

"Not enough room." replied KAT, "We swerve and we go under the wheels of that thing."

Knowing another impact was about to come, this one the last, Erica gritted her teeth and twisted around for a final look. She was determined to see her killer. Goliath approached at a fantastic rate, swallowing everything up.

"Good-bye KAT..." Erica whispered.

"So long Honey..." KAT whispered back, to Erica's surprise.

Erica closed her eyes...

The sound of the impact was huge, but Erica was amazed to find her and KAT were untouched, so she opened her eyes in time to see Attack Beast had come to their rescue, tearing out of the sand and ramming the rig's cab passenger side-on.

"_How do you like __THAT!_" roared Duke over Beast's loudspeaker.

Garthe's rig may have been nearly indestructible, but not supernatural, despite it's resemblance to the Grim Reaper. The laws of physics were on Beast's side and the impact pushed Goliath hard to the left and it crashed through several dunes, reared up, and nearly jack-knifed before grounding to a halt almost thirty seconds later.

Attack Beast had deflected off and hurtled itself sideways across the rough tarmac, coming to a stop. The effort had cost the pickup badly though, as the entire front end was mashed in, compacted to half it's original size. The left front tire was ripped to shreds and a dazed Duke DePalma peered out from a shattered windshield at the grounded rig, sitting less than twenty meters away, ti's twin exhaust stacks pumping grey smoke angrily into the blue sky overhead.

"We get that scumbag, Duke?" asked Beast.

"Not even a scratch, but he's not moving right now." replied Duke, "Can't you tell, old buddy?"

"All sensors are permanently down. You're driving from now on." replied Beast as blue sparks sputtered from his vox screen. "Try not to hit any pedestrians."

"I'll see what-oh, no, not again!" Duke grabbed the steering wheel and hit the gas, for he saw the particle cannon atop Goliath swinging in their direction.

The truck stalled on him and the gun stopped it's rotation, started to move downwards, completing the targeting.

"Come on! Start! Why won't you START!" shouted Duke, jagging the starter and pumping the gas like a madman.

"Yo, Duke, hurry up or we're KFC." urged Beast.

The gun clicked to a stop and the crystal conduits on it began to pulse a bright blue.

"Duke, get outa the vehicle, save yourself!" ordered Beast.

"Start, damn you, start!" Duke ignored him, and continued pounding the starter.

"DUKE! Get out now!" roared Beast and the cannon fired.

But miraculously the battered pickup remained in one piece, as the energy beam missed by a hair and blasted a hole in the ground directly in front of them. Then, as if in fright, the engine roared and turned over, and Attack Beast shot backwards like a bullet.

"YES!" cheered Duke, but their victory was to be short-lived, as the particle cannon was warmed up now and began firing shot-after-shot at them.

Sand and rock blasted into the air all around them as Duke attempted to weave back-and-forth, dodging the blue bolts, while trying his damnedest to keep the black pickup from wiping out. Having only three working tires was bad enough, but then they were hit on the driver's side and Duke's world went white as the truck was blown sideways, rolling twice across the sand, coming to a stop on the passenger side, spun nearly 180 degrees around.

Duke released himself from his restraints and peered up up at the shattered passenger window. He reached up and grabbed the door's frame and pulled himself up and out, gritting his teeth as the broken glass cut into his arms and legs. He fell forward off the pickup and landed on the hot sand, blinking blood and sweat from his eyes.

Duke stood up slowly, bracing himself on the engine block, and turned to ask Beast to survey the damage, but with a huge crash Beast was knocked ten meters away and Duke tumbled backwards as the air was knocked out of him.

He looked up to see Goliath's cab in Beast's place, having returned the favor they had done the rig by ramming it minutes earlier. The driver window rolled down to reveal Mobius's henchman Roland. He grinned down at Duke.

"Looks like your truck needs an oil change, DePalma." he leered.

"I'm going to drive over your moronic body, Roland." snarled Duke, getting to his feet.

"Not in that pickup." said Roland and he hit a switch in Goliath's cab. The cannon fired and Attack Beast disapeared in a fiery blast.

"NO!" roared Duke and he bolted for the cab, but Roland gunned the powerful engine and Duke was forced to stop, lest he fall beneath the wheels of the rig. Goliath disappeared into the flying sand of the storm...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Kyle ran as fast as he could , shielding his eyes from the blowing grit with his left arm. He had to find someone, any member of his team. He had to regain control of the situation, had to do something.

He tripped on an out-cropping and went down on his knees, his hands hitting the turf hard. He screamed a mindless cry in frustration, cursing Mobius with all his being.

"Wow, Oscar moment." came Erica's sarcastic quip.

Kyle opened his eyes in shock to see her sitting astride the purring KAT, directly in front of him. A bandage was wrapped around her right leg.

"Er-Erica?" he stammered, a grin threatening to cut the top of his head off.

"Need a ride, handsome?" she grinned back and Kyle got to his feet and climbed on behind her. She warned him to hang on tight, and KAT took off across the desert.

"Status report." ordered Kyle.

"That didn't take long." scowled Erica.

"What didn't take long?" asked Kyle.

"Your transformation from Moses in the desert, to Captain Picard." said Erica, than got back to business, "Okay, a report. Let's see, Plato and Beast are destroyed, Duke and Trek are missing, still no word from Jenny and Domino, and that black rig's paint isn't even chipped!"

"Where are we going?" asked Kyle, changing the subject.

"Trek created a program to track all the vehicles in the area, and Goliath sticks out like a Canadian movie on cable." she replied, "Last time I saw Duke, he was ramming it with Beast."

They raced across the desert and the storm cleared temporarily up ahead. They spotted a figure in the near distance moving slowly across the ground. It was Trek and he was obviously hurt, limping badly and cradling a broken arm.

"How long till we get to him?" asked Erica.

"Two minutes." replied KAT.

"Faster!" demanded Erica.

"This is the best I can do." replied the female bike, then to their horror they saw Goliath appear from around a high dune and come to a halt, scanning for a target.

It didn't take long for Roland to spot Trek, there was no cover to hide the mechanic, and the rig lurched forward, heading directly for him. Sanders began to run but the Mack was too fast to out-pace on foot and it roared right toward him. At the last second, Trek threw himself to the right, and Goliath just barely missed grinding him to paste.

"Yes!" cheered Erica, at Trek's nearly superhuman effort, "Hurry KAT!"

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Trek tried to stand on wobbly legs but he'd completely run out of strength, and couldn't stay verticle anymore. So he lowered and carefully rested down on one knee and breathed raggedly. Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he peered across the desert at the approaching yellow KAT.

"Won't reach me in time." he mumbled to himself, "Guess it ends here."

He turned back to Goliath, now finishing it's turn, and now it began to race back toward him, accelerating to maximum speed, taking no chance this time. Trek knew he couldn't avoid it again, so he hung his head in resignation.

The black Mack roared toward him and Trek used his last ounce of strength to stand up and stare down his immanent doom, his head held high.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"NO!" screamed Erica, realizing she could do nothing to save their friend. Kyle gripped her tightly as they shot across the desert.

Than there was a blur of motion and the two of them saw Duke appear as if from nowhere. He slammed into Trek, knocking him sideways and out of the way, saving him from certain death.

But in doing so he sealed his own fate and Goliath ran him down like he was nothing.

Erica screamed and would have lost control of the bike if KAT hadn't the presence of mind to take over the piloting from her driver and bring the bike to a stop. Kyle jumped off and shook the hysterical Erica by the shoulders.

"Duke...ohhh, Duke..." she cried, but the look in Kyle's eyes was solid steel.

"He's dead, Erica, and Trek will be too, unless you go get him now!" he shouted and his words snapped her out of her shock and galvanized her to a new purpose.

Without another word Erica resumed control of her bike and took off to rescue Trek...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Roland was swinging Goliath around for a third try at running down that annoying Sanders kid, when a yellow blur tore past him, bound for the collapsed mechanic.

"West!" Roland roared, throwing the rig into the next gear, "No way are you get away this time, lady!"

He pulled Goliath out of it's tight swerve and brought the energy cannon online again. It cycled up and he grabbed the control stick with his left hand and thumbed the firing stud. Blue bolts shot from the barrel perched high-atop the trailer.

The yellow bike began dodging back-and-forth across the sand, avoiding his onslaught. The crazy ex-thief drove as if possessed, weaving like a maniac, making it impossible for Roland to track her on the targeting grid projected by lasers on his windshield. He growled in frustration, then realized what he had to do.

He pulled back on the control stick and retargeted on the prone body Erica was racing toward. Centering his crosshairs, he grinned in anticipation of the coming kill.

"You're too late Honey!" and he squeezed the trigger.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

The cannon flared and cycled up to fire, while Trek lay motionless, oblivious to his fate. Then the gun shattered into a million pieces, as the red-and-white Mustang Domino crashed through it, as she flew over top of the trailer! Having used a dune for a launching pad, Jenny Andrew's partner saved Trek's life by less than a second.

This was not her intent though, the sports car was just destroying the weapon that had been plaguing her team. The car's perfectly timed jump totally destroyed the particle cannon and she sailed back down to earth, but the landing wasn't nearly as spectacular as the flight.

The Mustang came down at an angle and it crumpled the entire front of itself. Flipping corner-to-corner, than end-to-end, Domino rolled across the sand and ended upside-down, smoking and steaming.

The backlash from the gun's destruction tore through the cab and Roland scrambled with the controls, slammed desperately on the brakes. As Goliath plowed through several dunes and thudded to a stop he was thrown forward. His head connected hard with the dash and he was knocked out cold...

**To be continued...**


	6. Part VI

**Chapter VI - Fallen Angel**

_Deep inside the FLAG storage facility know as the Vault..._

"NO!" screamed Mobius and he slammed his twisted fists down onto the console.

On the view screen they could see the top of Goliath's trailer, burning with blue fire. Michael Long smiled and internally praised Domino. KITT would be proud of his fellow AI. As he Michael was of Jenny. Jenny looked up at him with hope in her eyes, but it was to be short lived.

"Curse those damned demon cars, and curse my father for creating them!" Mobius roared, sputtering in his rage.

"See Garthe? You overestimated yourself again." chided Michael, "Just like before. Both times. That's why you always loose."

Jenny glared at her father as if to say what are you, crazy? He's angry enough, why encourage him to shoot us. Michael shook his head and lightly gestured at her to continue with her adjustments to her watch comlink.

"Over confident am I, Michael?" asked Mobius with a sneer of his twisted and scarred face, regaining some control over himself, "We shall see...and unless you want Starrr to shoot you while your precious daughter watches, don't ever call me Garthe again. Garthe is dead, I am _Mobius_ now."

And Mobius's hands began to type at his keys and the view on the screen shifted from the carnage in the desert to a sky view. The image cut through the clouds at a fantastic rate and data for his mind controller began to appear on screen.

"You're wasting your time, Mobius." said Jenny, "You said yourself you can't target the desert surrounding the Vault without affecting yourself."

"The desert no. The sky above? Oh, yes." replied Mobius with a dark chuckle.

On the screen a dot appeared and it expanded to reveal Sky One, TKR's mobile HQ. The view changed again to show the cockpit, where the pilot was eating a sandwich while he surveyed the jet's controls.

"What are you doing?" demanded Michael, taking a step forward, but Starr stopped him by pointing her pistol directly at Jenny.

"Just watch, my false sibling."

Mobius entered a command, and the pilot froze in mid-bite. Jenny and Michael watched in growing fear as with a blank expression on his face the pilot turned off the autopilot and grasped the controls of Sky One. He pulled back sharply and the jet nosed downwards.

_I can't let this happen,_ Jenny thought to herself frantically, and she began hitting the buttons on her link faster, taking the chance that Starr wouldn't notice. But Starr was quicker than that, and leveled her gun at Jenny's face.

"What would you be doing with your watch, Dear?" she asked, clicking the safety off on her Magnum.

"Checking the temperature, Honey." Jenny shot back and began entering the final sequence.

"Freeze, Andrews, just hold those fingers still!" ordered Starr, taking a step forward and jamming the gun into Jenny's ribs.

Seizing the opportunity of Starr's attention being on Jenny, Michael lept at her and slammed her into the console. The gun flew from her grip and slid across the marble floor. Jenny vaulted a desk and dived for it, as Starr deftly elbowed Michael in the chest and pivoted with her legs, tripping him up.

Michael, thrown off balance, tumbled backwards, and grabbed a chair to stay aloft, then whipped it into the air as a weapon. Jenny grabbed up the Magnum, jumped to her feet, and swung around looking for a target. The first thing she saw was Michael with the chair and Starr crouched in front of him with a knife in her hand.

"Hold it Starr! I'll shoot!" shouted Jenny, and Starr froze, "Drop the blade! Now!"

She complied and Michael put down his chair, and turned to take care of Mobius, but found his arch enemy holding a revolver on him. Michael froze, realizing this was it, then Mobius shifted his aim behind Michael, to Jenny.

"No!" Michael leaped at Mobius and Mobius fired, than swung the gun back at Michael, stopping him in his tracks.

"Jenny!" Michael whirled to see daughter on her back, blood splurting from a wound on her left shoulder.

Starr stood over her with her recovered revolver. Michael went to her and got down on his knees and pressed down hard on the wound, stopping the blood flow. Jenny gasped in pain and Michael looked back up at Mobius.

"Mobius, let me help her, get me a first aid kit, or something, please!" he begged, though the hatred was plainly evident in his voice.

"Starr, shoot him in the face if he speaks again." growled Mobius, hard at his controls again.

Michael glanced at the viewscreen and he saw an exterior view of Sky One as it plunged downwards toward the sandy plain that the TKR occupied.

"Time to land this bird." laughed Mobius, "But I fear the pilot will neglect to extend the landing gear. Look out below!"

Mobius's laughter echoed again throughout the Vault.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Erica brought KAT to a halt and Kyle helped Trek off, sat him down on the sand. The young genius was near comatose and muttering Duke's name over-and-over. Kyle took off his jacket, and wrapped Trek in it.

"What now?" asked Erica.

"You've got the only working vehicle left, so go to the Vault lift and try to gain access." Kyle ordered, "Michael and Jenny must have failed, so you're our only hope now."

"Me? You've got to be kidding. You take KAT and go." the blonde retorted.

"No, I'll stay with Trek and try to raise Sky One, get him some medical attention. Then I'll come and back you up." Kyle countered.

"But-" started Erica.

"Go! Now!" shouted Kyle.

Jenny sighed, and clicked her shield back down on her helmet. She twisted the accelerator and shot away on KAT, bound for the Vault. Kyle watched her go, then turned his attention back to Trek. Remembering each TKR vehicle had a first aid kit onboard, he picked Trek up and hefted him in his arms. He set off across the sand bound for Domino, the closest one.

He prayed Goliath would be distracted by something else and not notice him and Trek. But he was afraid that something would be _Erica_. Halfway to the overturned mustang, he paused at a strange roaring coming from overhead. He looked up and saw the bulk of Sky One descending at an angle toward the plain.

"Great! Just when I need them! Finally something goes my way." but his excitement quickly changed to a deep twisting fear.

The jet was coming in too fast and it hadn't activated it's VTOL system for landing. It was going to crash!

"Oh crap!" said Kyle out loud and he began to run, as fast as he could, with Trek in his arms.

Moments later he dropped to the ground as the jet loomed overhead, and he shut his eyes tight. Sky One shot past the two of them, less than ten meters overhead, and slammed into the desert with the loudest and most horrible sound Kyle Stewart had ever heard...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Erica West raced across the desert, bound for the Vault. She shook her head in frustration, at what she thought was a bad move on Kyle's end.

"What am I supposed to do when we get there?" she asked KAT.

"You'll think of something, Honey, you always do." replied her loyal ride.

Then came a sound like Heaven exploding and an impact quake shook the ground, forcing Erica to stop KAT. She turned around in her seat and got the shock of her life. Sky One was just finishing crashing to the earth, but it kept going, plowing across the sand at a fantastic rate.

Right for the two of them.

"Oh, my god, KAT! Ohmigod-ohmigod-ohmigod-" stammered Erica.

"Erica! _Snap_ out of it and drive!" KAT growled.

Erica swung back around and gunned the motor. The yellow cycle took off like a rocket, with the downed jet hot after it.

They rode hard and fast, with the plane eating up the ground behind them, showing no signs of slowing down.

"Do we have a chance?" shouted Erica.

"At the speed that Skyone is going, no way!" shouted KAT back.

"Can we dodge to the left or right?" tried Erica. _Huh, _déjà vu_ all over again!_

"Won't work either, it's way too big." said KAT back, the fear evident in the AI's voice.

"If we stop, how long do you estimate we'll have?" asked Erica, an idea forming. A crazy one.

"Maybe fifteen seconds, probably less." replied the bike, "Why, we'll be crushed if we stop."

Erica squeezed the brakes and the cycle came to a halt.

"What the Hell are you doing, Erica?" screamed KAT.

Erica planted a foot on the ground and turned the bike around with a rev of the engine. Now they faced Sky One, which raced toward them like a gun-metal tidal wave.

"If you can't beat'em, then join'em!" she shouted, and gunned the engine.

The bike shot forward, right for the oncoming plane. Erica brought KAT to full speed and as Sky One loomed dangerously close she scanned the terrain desperately for a sand dune, the bigger, the better. She spotted a likely one and made for it.

Timing her move as best she could, she drove up the back of the pile of sand without slowing, and as the bike crested it she leaned all the way back bringing up the front wheel. KAT shot off the top of the dune, as if it were a ramp, and sailed high into the air, toward the vastly approaching jet.

Erica's aim was true and they slammed down atop the left wing of the jet! KAT went out from under her, and she lost hold of the bike, sending her sliding down the side of the wing. Her wounded leg twisted painfully under her. KAT tumbled off the wing and vanished into the churning plume of sand trailing the back of the rocketing jet.

Erica continued her backwards slide, frantically scrambling for any hand-hold that would stop her descent. In all this she noticed the jet was slowing, and starting to turn to the left. She failed to hold herself on the wing and tumbled off, hitting the sand hard and rolling. She stopped and looked up just in time to see the huge tail of Sky One twisting toward her.

"Well, it was a good try, anyways..." she whispered too herself, then the tail of the jet filled her entire world.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"YES!" shouted Mobius as he watched Erica disappear into the mass of Sky One.

Michael and Starr watched as the jet twisted to the left, lost it's right wing and pinwheeled into the air. It crashed down upside down, and slid to a very final halt, less then ten meters from the Vault's lift platform.

Michael cursed Mobius again and looked down at his daughter. Jenny looked up at him with glazed eyes, her lips moving, though he couldn't hear what she was saying. So he lowered his ear to them and listened closely to her.

"Ac...Activate m-my watch." Jenny whispered, "I think it's r-ready. And...keep your eyes closed."

He twisted her wrist up to face him and saw that the center button glowed crimson. He placed his thumb over it and held Jenny close.

"There, TKR is finished." said Mobius and he waved a feeble hand at Starr, "Kill them, my dear."

"With pleasure, lover." the blond replied and raised her gun.

"Sorry Garthe, we're not beaten yet." interrupted Michael and he closed his eyes tight and thumbed the comlink.

The link's LED glowed crimson, then every light and video screen in the Vault exploded!

As the miniature nuclear battery within the watch burned itself out, it emitted an EMP wave that destroyed all unshielded electronics within fifteen meters. The flying glass and twisted metal rained down upon the four of them and Michael could hear Starr screaming. Then it was over, and he opened his eyes, taking in the fantastic scene.

The command centre was in shambles, every video screen smashed, small electrical fires everywhere. The huge main screen was a blackened hole in the wall. Starr lay in a heap, looking pretty much dead. Michael whirled around in a complete circle.

"Damn!" he swore, for Garthe had vanished. But his mortal enemy would have to wait, for Jenny was bleeding harder now.

A quick search of the command area turned up a first aid kit, and five minutes later he had sealed the wound and had it tightly bandaged. Jenny had fallen into a deep sleep due to blood loss and Michael knew he shouldn't wake her. After making her as comfortable as possible, he took off for a run for the main lift.

But he stopped abruptly at the sound of a familiar voice.

"KITT?" he asked in surprise, turning and spotting his former car's matrix lying against the wall.

"Wow, pal, what the heck happened to you?"

"Hello Michael, I'd say it was nice to see you, but I have no visual receptors." replied KITT, his voice issuing from the phone link that had been torn from Mobius's chair. A small red visor slid back-and-forth on the front of the Matrix, like his original one.

"Look, KITT, I'll have to leave you here, I've got to try to help the rest of TKR." the tall man said, turning back toward the lift, "Goliath's out there, and they're on foot."

"You won't stand a chance against that truck." warned KITT.

"I know, but I have to go." replied Michael in resignation, "Remember, one man can, and all that stuff."

"Michael, I just might be able to offer up a solution to both our problems." replied KITT, and his former driver turned back and began to listen to what he had to say next.

**To be continued...**


	7. Part VII

**Chapter VII - Out of the Past**

_Just north of the Grand Canyon..._

Roland Laschewsky shook his head to try and stop the spinning.

_Uhhhhh, I feel like I just got decked by the Terminator..._

The dash had put a dent in the musclebound bodyguard's forehead, he was sure of it. Roland hoped he wasn't disfigured, he couldn't afford to loose his moonlighting job as a Chippendale's dancer. Despite Goliath's excellent air conditioning system, he was starting to feel the heat.

And now he was on his way back to the lift platform to pick up Mobius. He wanted to finish off the TKR, but his boss sounded pissed, so...

He pulled the rig to a stop by the lift and waited as it finished it's trip back to the surface. Mobius was there, just as he had said he would be, back in his motorized wheelchair.

"Lower the trailer's ramp, you idiot1" he snarled and Roland quickly hit the switch.

The ramp lowered and Mobius rolled up and into the back of Goliath. As the ramp raised back up he surveyed the damage dealt to the top of the trailer by Domino. All that remained of the particle cannon was wires and pieces of the hydraulics that had raised and lowered it.

"A waste. They will pay." growled Mobius and he locked his chair into a set of bolts that protruded from the floor. Activating his armrest screen, he locked into the frequency of the cab's internal camera.

In the cab, Roland started as the small video camera, that was set between the seats, came alive and turned to regard him. Mobius's voice issued from a speaker set into it's side.

"_What are you waiting for Roland?_" demanded his boss, "_Get my creation moving._"

"Your what?" asked Roland in confusion.

"_Goliath, you idiot!_" roared Mobius's electronic voice and Roland threw the Mack truck into gear and set off across the desert.

Mobius's camera turned to look out the windshield. He regarded the desert ahead, now cleared of most debris by the sandstorm, which had departed as quick as it had appeared. Near by he could see the huge mound of twisted rubble that had been Skyone. And farther beyond he could see two figures making their slow way across the sand.

"_Roland, alter your course for those two._" ordered Mobius, "_We've eliminated __three__ of the members of TKR, __now __let's finish the job._"

Roland grinned and hit the accelerator. Goliath headed full tilt toward Kyle and Trek. The end was approaching...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Kyle trudged across the sand, supporting Trek, who had just started to walk on his own a few minutes ago. He had insisted on going to Sky One to look for survivors, and Kyle had agreed, as long as they take it slow.

But know as they got closer, they could see that several fires had broken out all over the downed jet. Some burned with a blue flame and Trek was very worried about them.

"Those are chemical fires, they're burning very hot." he remarked, "If they reach the fuel tanks-"

He was interrupted by a loud explosion and a red-and-green fireball shot out of the front of the wing, and then a second detonation erupted from the fuselage. The two threw themselves down, as most of Sky One burst into flames, then exploded across the desert in a cloud of smoke and debris.

Kyle and Trek looked up from the safety of the sand at the skeletal inferno that had once been their aerial HQ.

"So much for survivors.." moaned Trek, letting Kyle help him to his feet, "This day has been a total downer. Should have joined IBM, not TKR."

"Shhh, do you hear something?" asked Kyle.

"You mean all my friends being deep fried? Or my Go-Bot collection going up in smoke?" quipped Trek.

"No, not the fire, I think I hear someone coming." said Kyle.

"Erica and KAT?" suggested Trek, half-hoping they had somehow survived the crash of Sky One.

Kyle pointed beyond the wreck, toward the Vault, and they saw a familiar black titan heading toward them at full speed.

"Oh, fantastic, this day just gets worse-and-worse!" said Trek, the fear in his voice evident.

"Let's move, Trek!" said Kyle, and the two turned back and began to head back across the desert.

"Where are we going? We can't outrun Goliath, and there's no cover!" gasped Trek as they moved across the ground as fast as they could.

"I don't know, just keep moving!" ordered Kyle, and he looked back at the quickly approaching rig.

He estimated it was halfway to them, from the Vault. They were near the Grand Canyon, but not that close. This was it, they had completely run out of luck.

"Not that we've had much of any today..." muttered Kyle.

"What was that?" asked Trek.

"Just that we're not close enough to the canyon for cover." said Kyle.

"Not what you said, man. I mean, why's your watch blinking?" asked Trek again.

Kyle raised his watch and saw that Trek was right, a green light blinked on it's face. That meant he had an incoming call from an unknown frequency. He activated the link and raised it. No image appeared, but the speaker came on.

"_Stewart, you there?_" came Michael Long's voice.

"Knight, that you?" demanded Kyle, still running alongside of Trek, who had regained some strength at this new development, "What happened, where's Jenny?"

"_Jenny's wounded, but stable._" replied Michael, "_We destroyed Mobius's satellite link, and Starr__ i__s dead. But he__r boss__ escaped_."

"We saw Goliath heading back to Vault just a while ago, Roland must have picked Mobius up." supplied Kyle.

"_Where's Goliath now?_" asked Michael.

"Making a beeline for Trek and I, guess this is good-bye." replied Kyle, sadly, "It was nice to work with you, even for the short time we did."

"_Don't get all mushy now, Stewart, it ain't over yet._" replied Michael, "_KITT and I have a surprise for our pal Mobius!_"

"You and KITT? What do you mean?" demanded Kyle, with a ray of hope in his voice.

"Y_ou'll see, just hold on._" and Michael cut the link.

Kyle and Trek looked at each other in hope and confusion, but kept on running toward the Grand Canyon...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

The Vault's lift, which had again descended into the depths of the storage facility, returned to the surface, bearing a passenger. Untouched by the sun's rays for nearly eleven years, it glinted and glowed like black lightning amongst the yellowish-brown panorama of the desert.

Matte black and low to the ground, the classic 80's sports car purred upon the lift platform. A crimson visor slid back-and-forth and a mechanical hum issued from it.

KITT, the Knight Industries Two Thousand Trans-Am, had returned.

"Michael, I have located Goliath." said KITT from within the interior of the fantastic car, "It's on a collision course with two fleeing figures."

"Go, KITT!" ordered Michael and the black vehicle leaped from standstill to fifty miles an hour in less than a second.

They accelerated across the terrain, and the red digital read-out increased from 50 to 75, than 110, and then maxed out near 150 mph.

"Maximum speed reached, Michael." stated KITT.

"Can we reach them in time?" asked Michael.

"Not at our present speed, Michael." said KITT.

"Time for Super-Pursuit Mode!" replied his driver and he hit the SPM button mounted on the dash.

"Engaging Super-Pursuit Mode." replied KITT and panels popped and slid open all over his exterior.

The front of the car extended outward and split into two sections, one going up, one down. Acceleration fins slid out of the sides of the vehicle and the trunk rose, exposing the mini rocket jets hidden there. Thruster ports clicked into view behind the back tires, and de-acceleration ports appeared facing opposite to them, behind the passenger and driver windows.

KITT shot forward at a fantastic rate and his dash indicators went from Normal Cruise mode right to Pursuit mode, skipping right over Cruise. The speed indicator accelerated rapidly, leveling out at an incredible 260+ mph.

"Whew! Yeah!" gasped Michael in jubilation, as he had forgotten the rush he got from traveling at KITT's highest speeds.

Up ahead a dark dot appeared, which soon became Goliath, demonically huge and black, even more menacing than KITT and Michael Long remembered. Directly ahead of it, but not for long, ran Kyle Stewart and Trek Sanders. As they watched, the two TKR members separated, giving Goliath different targets. They truck didn't hesitate for a moment, altering course directly for Kyle.

"No way Garthe kills anyone else!" roared Michael and he deactivated Super Pursuit Mode, instantly causing KITT's exterior to revert to his original form, and the car rapidly slowed down for better maneuverability.

"Michael, remember when we first tried ramming Goliath?" asked KITT.

"How could I forget, Buddy. We nearly totaled both of us, and the rig was barely scratched. Why?" replied Michael.

"At that time we didn't have Super Pursuit Mode." said KITT, "I have an idea..."

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Onboard Goliath, so intent on running Kyle Stewart down was Roland, that he nearly failed to see a new blip appear on the Mack's radar. Wrenching his gaze from his target, he glanced out of the passenger window and saw a strange black sports car heading directly for them. It had a glowing red visor reverberating back-and-forth just below it's hood, and it was coming fast.

"Yo, Mobius, we got company." he said, turning his boss's camera toward the approaching Trans-Am.

"It...can't be...!" came Mobius's gasp from over the radio.

"Can't be what?" asked Roland.

"It's Michael Knight's car: KITT!" exclaimed Mobius, a sense of dread stealing over him, "But no matter, he can't stop me, KITT's no match for Goliath!"

"They're not slowing, though." observed Roland.

"Don't worry, they tried this before and wrecked KITT almost completely. If Knight want's to commit suicide, that's his problem." replied Mobius, but then the car seemed to change, panels slid open all over it, and it suddenly shot forward at them, at an impossible speed.

"What in the Hell-" shouted Mobius, then KITT rammed into the front of the rig!

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"Kyle, look!" shouted Trek form over the sand dunes, causing him to turn and look back.

A fantastic site met his eyes, for out of nowhere a lean black sports car rocketed into Goliath's cab, knocking it off it's course toward Kyle. A tremendous crash of twisting metal echoed across the desert and the car deflected off the Mack, spinning to a halt right in front of Kyle.

As Goliath shuddered to a halt, almost jack-knifing over, Kyle got a good look at his savior, and he recognized the fabled KITT in all his glory.

"Thank god, where the heck did _you_ come from?" gaped Kyle, resting his palm on the slightly crumpled hood.

"A dealership in Detroit, originally." replied KITT, "Quick get in!"

Kyle obeyed, as KITT reverted back to Cruise Mode, panels sliding back into place, though the hood stabilizers ground their gears loudly as they disappeared back inside. Kyle pulled the door closed and looked over at Michael Long, hunched over the wheel, fingers skipping across the dash's keyboard.

"Problem?" asked Kyle.

"Hitting Goliath stalled the engine." said Michael in frustration.

"And damaged the advanced acceleration systems." added KITT, "Don't ask for Super Pursuit Mode again."

"How's Goliath doing?" asked Kyle, and KITT answered by activating one of the dash screens, revealing the rig motionless on the sand, it's grill twisted and torn, the entire lower right side of the cab mashed in.

"Amazing! How did you do it?" asked Kyle, "Our cars couldn't even scratch Goliath, and you nearly flipped it."

"A combination of high speed and calculating the exact angle of-" KITT started to reply but was interrupted by his engine roaring back to life, "Very good Michael, sorry I couldn't do that myself, but I'm still trying to get used to being complete again, and-"

"Just go, KITT! We'll all have our proper reunion later!" interrupted Michael and the car took off, and headed right for Trek, pulling alongside him. Kyle jumped out, and helped him into the narrow back seat.

"Well, it's about time, didn't know what you guys were doing just sitting there." said Trek, "Where'd you get the classic ride, Long?"

"Classic?" said KITT in annoyance, "Michael, have I gotten old?"

"We both have, buddy, and I think an _old_ friend is about to try and accelerate the process." Michael scowled as Goliath roared to life behind them, turned and headed back their way, accelerating to full speed once more.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"Kill them, kill them all!" screamed Mobius , nearly insane with rage, "Ram that car, DRIVE them into the earth!"

"Y-yes, sir!" stammered Roland, shaken and bleeding from the temple wound he had received when KITT's impact had knocked his head into the doorjamb.

He threw Goliath into high gear and they rocketed across the desert, bound for the now fleeing black car. The Trans-Am began to weave back-and-forth making it hard for Roland to stay on target, the bodyguard had his work cut out for him just keeping the Mack on it's wheels. This day had gone from great to not so great, all in a moment. Roland was beginning to get a bad feeling. A really bad feeling.

"Faster, you idiot!" screamed Mobius.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"What now, Michael?" asked KITT, as they swerved back-and-forth across the desert, trying to throw off their pursuer.

"I'm thinking..." said Michael, "Any ideas guys?"

"Getting the hack outa here's my favorite." said Trek in the back.

"Any weapons on board, KITT?" asked Kyle, "We've pierced Goliath's armor in two places. The front of the cab, and the top of the trailer, where Domino took out the cannon."

"Sorry, KITT's design doesn't include rockets or lasers." replied Michael, "Never liked to stoop to that level to accomplish our missions."

"Hey, times have changed since you last rode across the desert, Long." retorted Kyle, "We have to compete with a new breed of techno-criminal."

"We aren't outdated, Stewart," shot back Michael, "We saved you, don't forget!"

"Hey!" interrupted Trek, "Calm down guys, save the animosity for Mobius."

Michael and Kyle halted their argument, and turned back to monitoring Goliath's approach.

"KITT, how close are we to the Grand Canyon?" asked Trek.

"Less than forty-five seconds, if we alter our course." replied the car.

"Do it." ordered Trek and Michael glanced at Kyle, who nodded his approval, so he turned KITT toward the canyon. Goliath followed.

"What now, kid?" asked Michael, "If you see a solution, don't hold out on us."

"This is going to sound crazy, but that button beside the Super Pursuit Mode switch, is it what I think it is?" asked Trek, unfolding his plan.

And once the rest of them had heard the idea, even KITT himself was flabbergasted...

**To be continued...**


	8. Part VIII

**Chapter VIII - Last Rights**

_Rocketing over the terrain of the Copper State..._

Goliath tore across the desert, growing ever closer to the fleeing KITT. For as the Trans-Am had to weave around sand dunes, Goliath just plowed right through them like a linebacker charging toward the endzone. Back in the trailer, Mobius was drooling in anticipation of wiping all his remaining enemies off the planet in one fell swoop.

"Ah, boss, we had better alter our-" Roland began.

"Silence, you buffoon, concentrate on ramming them!" ordered Mobius.

"But-But, sir, we're heading right for the Grand Canyon!" Roland exclaimed, glancing again at his radar screen.

"I know, you fool!" replied the crippled genius, "If they try to swerve we'll have them, and at the speed they're going, there's no way they can brake fast enough to keep from going over the edge. They'll have to try, though, and then we'll be able to keep from going over too, by transferring our momentum into them when we ram them."

"You sure, sir?" asked a very doubtful Roland.

"Worked it all out on my wheelchair's computer." replied Mobius, obviously proud of himself.

They continued after the escaping black sports car and approached the edge of the canyon. Just as they were reaching the point of no return, KITT made his move, but not the one Mobius had anticipated. With a flare of the thrusters underneath and behind the car, the Trans-Am _T__urbo__ B__oosted_ forward and upwards, out across the Grand Canyon!

"_STOP_!" screamed Mobius and Roland slammed on the brakes.

Goliath tried to grind to a halt, but the Mack still was heading toward the edge, and Roland spun the wheel to the right, hard. The cab fish-tailed around and the trailer followed, bringing the rig swinging about nearly 90 degrees, and they were now sliding horizontally, bound for the edge!

They had slowed down greatly, but were still heading for the canyon...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

KITT rocketed through the air, arching over the edge of the Grand Canyon, reached the apex of the jump, and began to descend. The car shot downwards and impacted hard on it's tires, landing upon a tiny plateau set forty meters out in the canyon.

In the inside of the car, Trek and Kyle shouted in exhilaration at the stunt, but quelled their excitement as the car continued sliding forward, heading for the edge of the small plateau.

"KITT, the EBS, now!" shouted Michael, and he stabbed the button to the right of the Super Pursuit Mode one, activating the Emergency Braking System.

De-accelerator ports popped out on the sides of the car and the wheels locked. The thrusters fired and KITT slid to a stop, right at the edge of the plateau, his front wheels almost going over. Dust and dirt floated into air around them and shale rained down from the smooth pinnacle, which shuddered under their weight.

"Okay, let's see if it worked." said Michael with an exhale of relief, and he put KITT in reverse, and backed up and too the left, bringing them back around to face Goliath.

The rig had swung around so that it had slid to the Grand Canyon sideways, but had not gone over. Irregular outcroppings had been enough to slow it down and it had ground to a halt, the furthest back wheels actually hanging over the edge.

"Damn!" swore Kyle, "Mobius is luckier than King Midas."

"Actually," piped-up KITT, "as the fable goes, King Midas actually had an extreme amount of misfortune-"

"Not now, KITT." snapped Michael.

"Sorry."

"Um, guys, am I crazy-" began Trek.

"Utterly." put in Michael.

"Heh, very funny, but seriously, am I crazy, or is this tower we're sitting on moving?" finished Trek.

"Michael, he's correct." agreed KITT, "This plateau will collapse any minute now. Our impact on it must have damaged it's foundation."

"Great, and Goliath's blocking our way!" said Michael.

"Why not kill two birds with one stone?" suggested KITT, "Turbo Boost for the damaged part of the trailer."

"Do we have enough room to make it?" asked Kyle, and everyone glared at him.

"Okay, okay, just asking!" he replied.

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Roland rolled down his window and looked back at the wheels hanging over the edge. He glanced downwards and felt sick at the depth of the canyon below.

"_YES!_" yelled Mobius over the camera's radio, "_Michael Knight, Kyle Stewart, Trek Sanders, and KITT, gone! I win, YES!_"

"Ah, sir, sorry to rain on your circus, but-" started Roland.

"_Parade, you dolt._" corrected Mobius.

"Huh? What?" asked Roland.

"_The phrase is__: __Rain on your parade__. N__ot__:__on your __circus._" reiterated Mobius.

"Oh, parade, okay, whatever, but I think you should take a look over there." Roland said, pointing at the plateau that KITT had landed on, and Mobius turned his camera to take in the view.

He was just in time to see KITT back up almost to the edge of the precipice, than accelerate forward and Turbo Boost off. The plateau collapsed behind them, their escape the last straw for the sandstone pinnacle. The car arced back toward Goliath and Mobius tore his eyes away from his display screen just in time to see KITT _explode_ through the trailer's wall right in front of him, missing his wheelchair by inches! He and Kyle Stewart locked eyes for a moment as the car sailed past.

Then the Trans-Am burst out the other side of the trailer and completed the leap by hitting the ground and sliding to a grating stop. The group inside looked out their windows to see that they had torn the trailer in half, twisting the end around, so that they had a perfect view of Mobius in the back end of the box. The rear wheels were now completely over the edge.

"Ram him! Knock him over!" yelled Trek.

"Wait." said Kyle.

"But he killed Erica and Duke, destroyed Beast, Plato-" ranted the injured genius.

"Trek..." said Kyle again.

"KILL the murdering b-" shouted Trek.

"KEVIN!" roared Kyle, "Shut-up!"

And with no further pre-amble, the severed half of the trailer, containing the frantic Mobius, began to tip backwards. Mobius rolled backwards, out from the monitoring console and made for the only way out, as fast as his wheels could go. But he was too late and the trailer flipped backwards and over into the Grand canyon, taking the ruthless Garthe Knight with it.

"Oh..." said Trek, calmed by the sudden death.

"See, fate takes care of itself." replied Kyle grimly and he popped the door and got out, heading for the Mack truck.

"Kyle, don't!" yelled KITT, but not fast enough.

"You idiots! You killed him!" screamed Roland, leaping down from Goliath's cab brandishing his riot shotgun in one hand, and his Glock in the other, and he opened fire with both.

Two shotgun blasts struck KITT on the hood and as Kyle turned to dodge behind the indestructible car Roland pumped two shots from his pistol into him. Kyle went down hard in the dirt and didn't get up.

"KYLE!" screamed Trek and he dove for the open passenger door, but KITT pulled it shut before he could go to his leader's aid.

"Sit down, kid!" growled Michael Long, pushing Trek back down in his seat, "You go out there and that oaf will kill you too!"

Michael put KITT in gear and sent the car hurtling toward Roland, who dodged out of the way, barely. He swung the shotgun around and fired, shattering KITT's passenger window. Michael threw the car into reverse and sped away backwards, before Roland could take another shot at them. He fired after them anyway, but to no avail.

"How did he do that?" demanded Trek, staring out the window at Roland, who was reloading his shotgun.

"Garthe knew the formula for my bonded molecular shell." said KITT, "If the weapon's ammo was coated with it-"

"I get the picture KITT, did you take any damage when he shot your hood?" asked Michael.

"Nope, just ruined the paint job." replied the AI, "So, what now? I still detect life signs in Mr. Stewart."

"He's alive?" gaped Trek, hope suddenly returning.

"Not for long..." replied KITT.

"Kid, think you can drive with that busted arm?" asked Michael, hitting the switch to darken KITT's windows, hiding them from Roland's view.

"Sure, I guess." Trek replied, climbing carefully over the seat, as Michael slid over into the passenger side.

"Let's save Kyle, then." said the man formerly known as Michael Knight...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Roland flipped Kyle Stewart over onto his back using the barrel of his rifle. Seeing that the TKR leader was still breathing, he ejected the empty cartridge from his shotgun and chambered a new round. Aiming for Kyle's head, he placed his finger on the trigger and squeezed.

"Hold on, now." Roland mumbled to himself, "Gotta save Mobius's special shells for that car if it comes back."

Dropping the rifle to the sand, he drew his Glock-17 pistol from it's holster, pulled back on the slide and took aim. He pulled the trigger, fired, and that would have been the end of Stewart, if Kyle hadn't suddenly swung his leg up and smacked Roland's aim off.

As the bullet hit just to the left of his head, Kyle got to his feet and slugged Roland across the jaw. The shocked body-builder was knocked backwards and went down on one knee. Kyle grabbed the top of the Glock and head-butted him, ripping a fresh wound open on his scalp.

"That's for Duke!" roared Kyle,and he reached down and grabbed up the shotgun by the barrel, and swung.

The butt of the gun would have taken Roland's head off, but he had regained enough of his wits, so to speak, to grab the stock with his free hand. He rose and spun Kyle around, sending the wounded man tumbling onto his back. Kyle retained the Glock though,and he raised it and pulled the trigger.

But the gun clicked empty.

"That's right, I needed to reload it. Nearly forgot." Roland smiled and raised the shotgun.

That's when KITT slammed into him, sending him flying past Kyle to crash into the side of Goliath's cab. KITT continued forward, past Kyle, and swung around to the left, driver side facing the bodyguard who was getting up again. KITT finished his circle and took off back to Kyle. Roland swung up his weapon and fired at the now retreating car.

His first blast blew out the back window, the second tore the KNIGHT license plate off. Seeing the back of the driver's head visible through the shattered window, Roland smiled and took aim.

"Head's up, Arnold!" challenged a voice from above him, and Roland glanced upwards in time to see Michael Long drop from his perch atop the cab.

"Gotta love the Passenger Eject feature, huh?" grinned Michael as he sprang down to land before the weight-lifter.

Long was almost as tall as Roland and not too shabby in the muscles department himself. He slugged Roland in the stomach, then smashed him across the face, breaking his nose, the shotgun flew out of the big man's grip.

"You have a lot to pay for, son!" growled Long, and another kick to the chest sent Mobius's bodyguard tumbling backwards, beyond the cab.

Michael drove forward with a yell, but Roland recovered enough to side-step him and pile-drive him in the side of the head. As Long reeled toward the edge of the drop, Roland pulled a knife from his belt.

Stepping forward, he swung it back and forward, in quick slashing movements. Michael put up his hands to ward off the blade and Roland opened up his left forearm, then his right palm. Michael yelled and kicked out, catching the brute under the knife, but Roland grabbed his leg, twisted hard, and forced him around and down to his knees.

Bringing the knife to Michael's face, he locked him tightly around the throat with his massive left arm, forcing him forward, over the edge of the canyon.

"I'm going to cut your throat and throw you over the edge!" snarled Roland, in Michael's ear.

"Taking you...up on...that...last one!" Michael growled and he somersaulted over the edge of the precipice, _into_ the Grand Canyon, taking Roland with him!

"MICHAEL, NO!" shouted KITT, watching the two combatants tumble over.

Trek was putting Kyle into the passenger side and he too looked up in time to see them go.

"Michael!" he shouted and releasing his boss he ran for the edge.

Reaching it, Trek looked over and gasped at what he saw. Michael had caught himself a few meters down by grabbing onto a stone shard protruding from the shale wall. Unfortunately for Long though, Roland had caught hold of _him_, grabbing hold of Michael's boot.

"Kid, got a rope or something?" asked Michael, barely holding onto the fragment, Roland's weight was pulling him down fiercely.

"You pull me up first, Sanders, or I'll kill both of us!" roared Roland.

Trek looked around and picked up the shotgun.

"Unhook the shoulder-strap and lower it!" ordered Roland.

"Look, buddy, there's no way I can pull you to safety. I only got, like, one arm." growled Trek, "Like I could lift you anyway."

"Then get that stupid talking car to help!" screamed the desperate man.

"Nope, have a better idea." replied Trek calml, and he took aim, pulled the trigger, and vaporized Roland's head.

The useless body released Michael and disappeared into the Grand Canyon.

"KITT, get over here, but carefully!" ordered Trek over his shoulder and the robotic Trans-Am got moving.

**To be concluded...**


	9. Part IX

**Chapter IX - New Dawn**

_Above the hidden halls of the FLAG storage facility..._

KITT had a well stocked trunk and ten minutes later they had Michael out of the canyon and Kyle bandaged up. He was lucky, the bullets had missed vital areas, hitting him in the lower chest, left arm, and the right side of his face. Some surgery and he would be fine. He was sleeping off a sedative now.

"Pretty cool, using KITT's Passenger Eject to launch you to the top of Goliath, while we distracted Roland." praised Trek as he closed the trunk.

"You weren't so bad yourself, kid." said Michael, "Saved my bacon, and Kyle's. You're a hero."

"No I'm not." replied Trek somberly, "Duke, Erica, the cars, I couldn't do anything to save them."

"Don't beat yourself up over them, you did everything you could." Michael consoled the young mechanic as he walked back to Goliath's cab.

"But I thought one man could make a difference." said Trek, "That's FLAG's motto."

"One man can, and you did. I did, Duke and Erica did too." Michael replied, unhitching the last of the trailer from the cab.

The shattered box tumbled off the cliff, leaving only Goliath's cab. Michael climbed in, grabbed the door.

"You're taking the cab?" asked Trek.

"We need it, kid, and with it having a molecularly bonded shell it's far too dangerous to just abandon. You take KITT, race you back to the Vault."

Trek got into KITT's driver seat, shut the door and KITT started up.

"Do you think we made a difference, KITT?" asked Trek as they followed Michael back to pick up Jenny.

"We stopped Mobius and saved the world, that's pretty amazing." replied the car.

"But really, all this sacrifice, loss of life, to stop one power-mad maniac." frowned Trek over the wheel in frustration, "It's such a waste."

"It's our job." said KITT.

"Not anymore." replied Trek, "No vehicles, no Sky One, no TKR. We're all out of a job, once the higher-ups hear what happened. Finished."

"_Speak for yourself, boy_." came a familiar voice over Trek's comlink.

"Beast!" exclaimed Trek as he happily activated his watch, "You're alive!"

"_Need some paint and maybe an oil change, but otherwise..._" replied the tough pickup, "_Oh, and I'm not the only one._"

"_Hey, honey._" came the distant voice of Domino over the link, "_Trek, who is that incredibly sexy sports car your driving?_"

Trek laughed all the way back to the Vault...

******\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

Twenty-four hours later the two vehicles were heading down a stretch of deserted highway, bound for New York. The group of four survivors had broken communication silence with the Pentagon just an hour ago, and the news was not good. Trek's prediction had come true: TKR was no more.

The loss of two members, Sky One, and all the cars was bad enough. But that FLAG technology had been used in Mobius's botched takeover had been the straw that broke the camel's back. The word had come down from the highest level in government: TKR was disbanded, FLAG was liquidated, and Kyle, Jenny, and Trek were recalled. Possibly to face charges.

Kyle had left out any details about Michael Long, KITT, or the two surviving matrix's stowed safely in KITT's trunk. They had destroyed the Vault using it's own power systems, and all that remained of what it had stored within lay in the new trailer attached to the back of Goliath's cab.

They had also destroyed Beast and Domino's frames to cover up their survival.

"So Kyle, how long before the government decides we're not coming in, and starts looking for us?" asked Jenny, stowed safely in KITT's back seat.

"No more than forty-eight hours, I should think." replied Kyle, from the passenger seat in the rig's cab.

"But where can we go?" asked Trek, concerned about his freedom, or soon lack there of.

"I have a place we can go." suggested Michael, "We'll be safe in New York. I won't let Wilton Knight's dream die away. This is not over. Knight Rider will return."

"_Right_!" said Jenny.

"I'm with you." said Trek with a grin, "Who needs job security."

Kyle was silent for a moment, then said, "One team can make a difference."

"I like the motto better that way." said Jenny.

"_We do too._" said Beast, his and Domino's voxes now hooked into KITT's.

"Let's get this show on the road." KITT declared and both he and the Mack rig accelerated to full speed down the highway, bound for the future.

**The End...for Now...  
**


End file.
